Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
@Mike Pow, Have you been to the Happy Yeti yet? I've followed them on Facebook for a number of years with it being on my bucket list next to Japan. The photos and updates they post have me dreaming.
Look forward to the full TR!
After all it is free
After all it is free
Thanks all.
Magic place.
Great terrain and only seen and skied a fraction of it.
Amazing snow and it keeps coming.
People very friendly.
No queues.
Super cheap - 10 day lift pass which also covers two other resorts is £92! B&B for £22 per person per night.
Will have a look for the Happy Yeti AthersT and report back
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
@Mike Pow, Wow.....
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Wow. And there was I planning to come to your neck of the woods next year.......
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
Cheers guys.
MONDAY 25 JANUARY 2016
Another 20cm or so of new snow overnight.
Great conditions all over the lower mountain again. Face shots for fun.
Top lifts still on hold, but plenty to keep you happy down low.
TUESDAY 26 JANUARY 2016
Stopped snowing and the sun is trying to break through.
Here we go
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
So good to hear about places other than the French, Austrian or northern Italian alps.
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
Man you need to buy a ..
Guess there is no problem buying DIY safety Avalanche TNT over there
You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
How do you get there?
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Yes! Airport details please and distance to slopes!
Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Looking at the Gudauri website is it Tbilisi?
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
We did Gatwick - Istanbul - Tbilisi
Plenty of other routes. We booked last minute and this was thd cheapest - £290 return
3 hr drive from Tbilisi to Gudauri
Hotel Alpina is a 5 min transfer to gondola. Ski back.
There are plenty of other accommodations which are ski-in, ski-out.
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
This was the place I mentioned above to @Mike Pow, they have some very very nice recent photos - also rated 5 star on Tripadvisor.
Looks a good option if you're with a group or travelling solo and want to meet up with people.
It's below the lowest lift, so unless they provide a shuttle it's a walk to the Marco Polo lift each day. Not sure if you can ski back to the hostel all the way at day's end.
We're at Alpina Hotel, one of the last accommodations at the top of the village. We get a free shuttle to the gondola each morning and you can ski back to the front door at day's end. Need to be an adventurous intermediate or above
We're paying £22 per person per night for double room and breakfast.
@Mike Pow, to be honest I came across incidentally when I was looking up alternatives to the alps - they posted a load of post dump bluebird photos yesterday and that prompted me to post on here. Looks like you have possibly got the best conditions of the season.
How have you found the food and other costs?
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
AthersT wrote:
@Mike Pow, to be honest I came across incidentally when I was looking up alternatives to the alps - they posted a load of post dump bluebird photos yesterday and that prompted me to post on here. Looks like you have possibly got the best conditions of the season.
How have you found the food and other costs?
It looks a great place, just not what Nerys & I are looking for.
They do a great job of promoting the resort on social media.
Excellent conditions.
3 days of powder; 3 days of sunshine with variable powder - thick wind crust; trying to snow as I type and last night's snow has 'eaten' into the wind slab to make the off-piste very manageable today.
Last day tomorrow. Should be great. May do a bit of skinning to hit some untracked faces.
Food is plentiful, delicious and cheap.
For example, lunch on mountain today was kebab, bread, salad, mineral water, glass of wine for me; Georgian dish of bread (like a naan) topped with cheese and an egg, mineral water, gluhwein for Nerys.
47 lari / £13 all in
Dinner not much more.
After all it is free
After all it is free
@Mike Pow, looks like another venue to add to my ever-growing list...!
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
offpisteskiing wrote:
@Mike Pow, looks like another venue to add to my ever-growing list...!
It would be rude not to
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
b]@Mike Pow[/b],
Quote:
glass of wine for me
[
Mike, Georgian wine is supposed to be v good, can you confirm and post a few photos of the food?
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
sign me up.
how many hours of daylight in January, and wondering if you recommend this a good late season option as well?
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
Looks fantastic .
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
Not the easiest place to get to, but just looked and from Stockholm it's one stop via Kiev for £150 return...
You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
@Mike Pow, awesome work! Looking forward to the full report.
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
dbeatski wrote:
b]@Mike Pow[/b],
Quote:
glass of wine for me
[
Mike, Georgian wine is supposed to be v good, can you confirm and post a few photos of the food?
Georgian wine is great. Food pics in full TR sometime next week.
Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
HeidiAmsterdam wrote:
sign me up.
how many hours of daylight in January, and wondering if you recommend this a good late season option as well?
Sunrise just after 8am, sunset just after 6pm. So approx 10 hours of daylight.
Season can go to first week in May, but typically closes mid to late April. That's due to lack of customers not lack of snow.
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
TR: Gudauri Ski Resort, Georgia (January 2016)
Having a shorter than normal season on Hokkaido, Nerys & I were on the lookout for a snow sure European destination for a late January 2016 trip.
When we were representing Kiroro Resort at the Helsinki and London Ski Shows last October our neighbouring stand was Ski Georgia.
No not the land of peaches & peanuts, but the land of wine, mountains and arguably Europe's best snow.
The pictures and prices looked inviting, so whilst I was on Hokkaido I followed the ski reports daily to see if a late January trip was doable.
I'd previously travelled east to find snow when Central Europe had been hurting
and with consistent snowfall since Christmas and snow forecast for the first part of our proposed holiday, flights & accommodation were booked on Wednesday night (20th January) for a Friday morning departure to Gudauri Ski Resort.
Here are a few links to web sites, trip reports and videos which helped with our decision to head to Gudauri Ski Resort.
We left Cardiff Bus Station, Wales at 5am for the 5 hr journey to Gatwick Airport, London.
Due to the last minute booking, the cheapest flight we could get was Turkish Airlines Gatwick to Tbilisi (capital of Georgia) via Istanbul leaving at mid-day.
However this did give us a very generous luggage allowance of 40kg.
With a 7 1/2 hr travel time (including a 1h 20 min stop at Istanbul) and 4hrs of time zones, we got into Tbilisi at 23.30
We had contemplated spending the first two nights in Tbilisi, travelling up to Gudauri on Sunday afternoon to avoid the weekend crowds but decided to head straight to resort instead.
We'd booked 9 nights bed & breakfast at the Alpina Hotel through booking.com and organised for a driver to meet us at the airport.
As we cleared immigration, the immigration officer handed us a bottle of Georgian wine each and wished us a great holiday. Now that's what I call a welcome.
After changing £500 into Georgian Lari (Gel) at an exchange rate of 3.6 Gel to the £, we loaded the car and set off.
The route takes you right through the heart of Tbilisi, which is an impressive mix of ancient and modern architecture tastefully illuminated at night.
The car journey to resort took 3 hrs and it was snowing as we arrived at Hotel Alpina.
----------
SATURDAY 23 JANUARY 2016
We woke at 9am and headed down to the restaurant for the buffet breakfast that was included in our stay. Breakfast runs from 8-10 am.
Booking.com had shown that Hotel Alpina was ski-in, ski-out. This is incorrect. It's just ski-in, and only for adventurous intermediates and above. The 'track' home was ungroomed for most of our stay.
* It's since been changed to just ski-in *
A free shuttle takes you down to the chairlift or gondola at 8.00, 8.30 and 10.30
Outside of those times you can get a taxi for 10 lari each way.
Around 10-15cm had fallen overnight and it was snowing steadily with low visibility and only the three lifts on the lower mountain running - the Pirveli & Soliko quad chairs and the Gudaura gondola.
Plenty of terrain to keep us happy and by day's end we were skiing boot top to knee deep light powder.
We had lunch at Vitamin at the top of the Soliko quad and ordered way too much for not a lot of money. The portion sizes are big.
Georgian cheese mix, mushroom soup, schnitzel, fries, green tea, glass of wine, 3 bottles of water for 56 lari.
Skied back to Alpina off-piste and had a light dinner of nuts (10 lari), olives (15 lari) and gin & tonics (10 lari per drink) in the lounge bar.
----------
SUNDAY 24 JANUARY 2016
It hasn't stopped snowing since we arrived in the early hours of yesterday morning.
At least 40cm overnight and epic conditions over the entire lower mountain, with Nerys enjoying her deepest day on skis.
The upper mountain is closed until the storm passes through, which looks to be on Wednesday.
The snowplow crew hadn't made it up to the hotel, so we had to ski down to the lifts.
And at day's end we had to make the path down the one ungroomed run on the mountain to get home.
We had lunch at the restaurant at the bottom of the soliko quad chair - two burgers, glass of wine, green tea for 41 lari and dinner with Alex and Michele from Paris at Glintwein at the base of the gondola.
Last edited by Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person on Tue 31-05-16 11:56; edited 3 times in total
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Nerys & I were the only two guests staying at Hotel Alpina.
So instead of the buffet we gave them a time for breakfast and transfer down to the lifts.
Another 15-20 cm of snow overnight and still snowing with low visibility as we began our day.
The powder was heavier than yesterday - the wind had got to it and created a wind crust on the surface - but it was still gut deep with plenty of face shots.
Skied back to the hotel at day's end and enjoyed a relaxed dinner of pizza and G&Ts in the lounge bar.
----------
TUESDAY 26 JANUARY 2016
Nerys & I still the only two guests staying at Hotel Alpina.
Solid breakfast of Glamorgan type sausage and fried eggs.
Morning view from the balcony of Hotel Alpina
After three days of snow the sun finally made an appearance. In and out sunshine on the mountain. Clearest day so far.
Bluebird day with the Kudebi lift open for the first time during our visit.
Amazing views.
Great grooming and deserted slopes but inconsistent powder off piste. A heavy wind crust meant getting bogged down at times - as can be seen at the end of the vid
FAQ
Poster: A snowHead
